Forever After: Forever After #1 by David Jester

I’m a fan of the unusual and perhaps not so politically correct views on the world, real or imagined. And no one does this better than the Brits. Today David Jester is on the blog with a wonderfully twisted and darkly humorous story

Forever After

Perfect for fans of Christopher Moore (Lamb, Secondhand Souls , Practical Demonkeeping and more) David Jester’s Forever After introduces us to a Grim Reaper Michael and his housemate, a dwarf-sized Tooth Fairy Chip. A pretty good set up for a story, and then you add in the fact that Michael is bored and depressed, drinks too much and lives in squalor with his fast-talking, snarky roomie. Mix in a couple of side-threads as Michael chases a demon with Santa Claus aspirations, a city at the far end of respectable, and weather that won’t allow any sunshine into his immortality, and Michael is not without scope for depressing elements.

Dialogue that feels plausible threads through the novel: well, plausible if your friends and overheard conversations are from those who have seen too much, or are stuck in ruts and grasping at anything that makes a change in their routine. Passages of description bring the city to life, easy to envision both place and action, and the action seems never ending. Michael becomes a character that is sympathetic and understandable: you can almost feel the ennui that pours from his pores as another day, much like those before it, are all that face this civil servant.

If you want something wholly different, are prepared to take the story as it comes to reveal itself to you, and don’t mind the seemingly unconnected plots that do tie in with a wholly unexpected ending, this is certainly the book for you.

Forever After follows Michael Holland, a grim reaper in a grim town. An embittered and melancholic man who struggles to grasp the purpose of his own existence, or lack thereof. He is a minuscule cog in a monumental machine and knows less of his role than those surrounding him -- from his boss, the mighty Angel of Death, to his friend and flatmate Chip: a grubby midget tooth fairy with an addiction to pot and procrastination.

Brittleside is a dank, dark and decrepit town, and Michael Holland is its reluctant reaper. From dealing with the drunks, the druggies and the wasters, to tracking an escaped demon who believes he is Santa Claus; Forever After follows his escapades over four dark and humorous tales.

A paranormal and comic romp through a fantasy world where the mythical, the fantastical, the insane and the typical combine. A mix of dystopia and comedy, if the works of Philip K. Dick and Terry Pratchett were to ever procreate, Forever After would be the bastard child of their creative communion.

A copy of this title was provided via Publisher Via Edelweiss for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

In the town of Brittleside, where evil and misery lurk in every crevice, even the local grim reaper has had enough.

Michael Holland is a grim reaper working the worst beat in the worst town. Michael’s best friend is a pot-smoking tooth fairy, his boss is the angel of death, his psychiatrist can read his mind, and he counts bogeymen, demons, and clones as his acquaintances.

His nine-to-five is a succession of stupidity, clearing up the remains of the latest Darwin Award winner or dealing with the detritus of some apocalyptic clerical error, and it only seems to be getting worse. Michael is as equally disillusioned with death as he was with life, but at least life made more sense.

In Forever After, Michael and his friends battle confused succubi, tormented psychopaths, evil henchmen, and a demon who thinks he’s Santa Claus. This darkly humorous novel is set in a fantasy world that exists parallel to ours—a world where anything is possible, very little makes sense, and nothing is as it seems.

About David Jester

David Jester is the pseudonym of a novelist and short story writer living in the North East of England. He is the author of An Idiot in Love, Forever After and other novels.